The Hindu Business Line : Domestic coal not enough for power sector: Jaiswal

NEW DELHI: Coal Minister Mr Sriprakash Jaiswal on Monday said the country's annual coal production capacity is not able to meet the requirement of the power sector and that the gap between demand and supply is being bridged by importing the dry fuel.

He cited a cumulative gap of 88.26 million tonnes between the supply and demand of coal in the last five financial years. In 2008-09 alone, the deficit stood at 36.31 million tonnes. Asked if the annual coal production capacity of the country is able to meet the requirements of the power sector, Mr Jaiswal informed the Rajya Sabha in a written reply, “No Sir.”

“As per the Annual Plans/ Five Year Plans, there is a gap between assessed demand and indigenous availability of coal for the power sector,” he said. However, the gap between the demand and supply is being met by importing coal, the minister added.

In a separate reply, he added that the indigenous coal is of lower quality. The imported coal is of superior quality. The power ministry has set an import target of 35 million tonnes of the dry fuel in 2009-10.

Power utility NTPC needs about 150 million tonnes of coal in this fiscal, out of which it will import 12.5 million tonnes. To meet the growing coal requirement of the consuming firms, Coal India, India's largest coal producer, would import 4 million tonn es of the dry fuel in 2009-10. - PTI

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